Can Rivera Regain His Mojo?

by Rob King

Up in the Bronx where the people are fresh…the strongest finisher in the game was topped in back to back games by a Boston Red Sox team with a penchant for strong finishes of late.

Over the last eight seasons Yankee manager Joe Torre would strike fear in the hearts of opponents with one phone call in the eighth inning of games in which the Yankees held slim leads. They knew that phone call would tell the bullpen coach to loosen up Mariano Rivera. Soon number 42 would take off that jacket, warm up and all hopes the opposition had of coming back vanished, along with Maalox moments for Joe Torre in the ninth.

Mariano pitched the ninth inning of those contests but essentially the game was over. The other team didn’t believe they could come back and were accurate in that assessment. Mariano was unhittable!! When opponents did connect it seemed like an act of providence. Mariano’s blown saves during the 1997 American League Divisional playoffs and the 2001 World Series are memorable because they were so infrequent. The New York Yankees and their fans have been spoiled the past eight seasons watching baseball's premier "fireman" extinguish opposition rallies in routine fashion.

Recently it seems as if the top "fireman" in the game is burning out.

On Tuesday, Yankee closer Mariano Rivera surrendered a game-tying homer to Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek in the top of the ninth to tie the score at 3, and ruined the solid pitching effort of Carl Pavano in his Yankee debut Tuesday afternoon at Yankee Stadium.

Derek Jeter helped the Yankees overcome Rivera’s blown save with a walk-off solo homer in the bottom of the inning, giving the Bronx Bombers a 4-3 victory.

Wednesday there was no rally, as the Red Sox scored five runs (one earned) in the top of the ninth off Mariano Rivera to beat the Yankees 7-3. The Red Sox were aided by Alex Rodriguez’s misplay of a game ending double-play ball. The win allowed Boston to salvage the final game of the season opening series between two clubs expected to compete for the American League pennant.

This was Rivera’s third consecutive blown save against his New England nemeses. He failed to close the deal in the ninth inning of game four in last year’s League Championship Series, leaving the door open for Boston’s improbable comeback.

Does Mariano have Red Sox fatigue? Or, are his last three appearances coupled with his spring training arm woes signaling the end of Rivera’s reign as baseball’s most dominant closer?

The Red Sox and Yankees have played fifty-five times since the start of the 2003 baseball season, and Rivera has appeared in twenty-nine of those contests. That familiarity has provided BoSox sluggers plenty of chances to figure out even a closer of Rivera’s caliber. Mariano has blown six of his last eleven save opportunities against the world champions. The Red Sox have made adjustments and appear unfazed by Rivera. Rivera actually seems shook by the Boston batsmen. With sixteen more regular season matchups plus a possible playoff confrontation in October against Fenway’s finest, trouble looms on the horizon for the Yankees in their quest to bring world championship twenty seven to the house that Ruth built.

Thanks to the New York Yankees’ recent stretch of dominance, Rivera has logged a lot of regular season and playoff innings on his right arm. All those extra innings are bound to take a toll at some point. There is a distinct possibility that Rivera’s days as baseball’s most dominant closer are over. Many of baseball’s best closers experience a four or five year window of excellence then taper off. The game’s foremost closers Rich “Goose” Goosage, Bruce Smith and Dennis Eckersley all experienced periods of dominance before gradually becoming solid closers.

Solid closers save games. Dominant closers save games and break the oppositions’ will to rally just by warming up in the bullpen. After Met closer Branden Looper’s blown save in the Mets opening day 7-6 loss to the Cincinnati Reds, rookie New York Mets manager Willie Randolph can certainly discern between the two. Branden Looper has been a solid closer throughout his career. Mariano Rivera has been dominant. Solid closers don’t often save meaningful games in September and they rarely save any games in October.

Mariano “Sandman” Rivera's problems against the Beantown Bashers may just simply be early season rust. Elbow bursitis prevented Mariano from getting normal work in this spring. If A-Rod makes the play on a routine grounder, the Yankees get a game-ending double-play, and maybe all this speculation is mute. With so much invested in this season, the Yankee brain trust must quickly determine whether Rivera’s recent struggles are a slump or something more ominous. The Yankees can win with a solid Mariano but Torre’s charges can only win championships with a dominant Mariano.